Subj: What Could have Been
Date: 12/17/99 1:35:43 AM Central Standard Time
From: Kim D
What Could Have Been
by KimD
Part 1 of ?
Vicki had been terribly lonely since Peter visited her as a ghost. She tried to forget him. She had left, but she couldn’t escape the memories. Elizabeth tried hard to cheer her up, but that hadn’t helped. She had tried to become involved with the children, but that had not blocked the memory of Peter either. She constantly thought of him and his last words to her. That had been a month and a half ago. After that night she hadn’t felt his presence with her. She constantly watched the watch she gave him, but it hadn’t moved since she last saw him. It was like he completely abandoned her. She was finally starting to realize that Peter was never coming back to her, and that she had better get used to it. Vicki spent little time with others. She preferred to shut herself up in solitude with only her own dreary thought to keep her company. Often in the evenings she took long walks. On this evening she went to widow’s hill. She looked out over the cliffs at the crashing waves below. She pulled Jeff ’s watch out of her coat pocket and gave it a second’s look and hesitated a moment before throwing it to the rocks below. He wasn’t coming back, and it was time to let go. She walked around aimlessly after that, lost in thought. She soon found herself near the old house. She turned to go without being seen, because she wanted no companionship tonight. Too late, she had been seen. It was Barnabas, and he looked a little surprised to see her. “Vicki, I thought you had left Collinsport.”
“I did, I found that I couldn’t get far enough away to stop the memories. I stayed until I had just enough money left to buy a train ticket back.”
“I’m glad your back. You have friends here who care about you.”
“Yes, I missed that while I was gone.”
“Come inside and we can talk.”
Once inside she found herself talking about all the details of Peter’s last visit, things that she had been keeping inside. She told him about how she had begged Peter to take her with him, and felt a little rejected when he refused to. Peter had said that she couldn’t go with him, because there was someone here who needed her. Barnabas just listened to her like a kind understanding friend.
When it was over he gave her a hug and said, “I’m sorry you had to go through that. I know how terrible it is to loose someone like that.” She felt so secure and comforted that she did something she hadn’t done very much of lately, and fell asleep. Unknown to them a set of eyes jealously watched them, plotting and waiting for the right opportunity.
The next morning Barnabas woke up to someone knocking at the door. He assumed Vicki was still asleep in the guest bedroom in which he placed her last night, so he hurried to the door. He found Sheriff Patterson on the other side. “Why Sheriff, this is somewhat unexpected. What brings you here?”
“You’ll have to come with me, you’re wanted for questioning.” Although he was shocked to here this, he went calmly with the sheriff.